Scene At The 2013 Hot Rod Homecoming

When our big sister committed to renting the expansive and expensive Fairplex for an unprecedented reunion of past HOT ROD feature vehicles since 1948, the big question was whether the response from car owners and spectators would justify such heavy investments in effort and dollars. After all, the targeted audience had been here recently for the huge Grand National Roadster Show, and NASCAR was running the same weekend at nearby Fontana.

That risk paid immediate dividends when large crowds appeared both Saturday and Sunday to view nearly 300 street and race cars and trucks in person that most folks had seen only in print. These main attractions were displayed inside, complete with large reprints of their respective HRM pages. Outdoors, about the same number of never-featured vehicles put on a super show of their own. Last but not least, their $15 tickets admitted happy fans to an autograph session with legends including George Barris, Ed Pink, Don Prudhomme, Linda Vaughn, Bob D’Olivo, Jim Wangers, Roland Leong, Vic Edelbrock, Floyd Lippencott Jr. (Bob Muravez), and Tommy Ivo.

2/16

Longer term, the HOT ROD Homecoming will be paying off in several years of great editorial content. What you see is but a teeny-weenie taste of what you missed in Pomona.

3/16

Don’t let that happen again. The cream of this incredible crop will show up in new Hot Rod magazines for the foreseeable future. If you’re a former believer who let that subscription lapse during the van invasion of the ’70s or anytime since, it’s time to get back on board—for about the cost of a ’70s subscription, yet.

Old Pony

4/16

Hold the hate mail, friends; there’s more history attached to this ponycar than to most of the older stuff on display. For the complete list of firsts, we called upon newly retired Rick Voegelin, the former Camaro Craft editor and still owner, after all these years, of the prototype NHRA Super Modified Camaro: “This was the first SS 350 in California, shipped to HRM for the first road test; the first big-block Camaro, quick enough at the 1967 Winternationals to psyche Bill Jenkins into red lighting against staffer Don Evans during SS/C class eliminations; the first Camaro fitted with a parachute—which spun the car 360 degrees getting the June ’67 HRM action shot. Staffer Jim McFarland subsequently bought it from Chevy PR for $2,900, had Bob Joehnck rework the original 350 with aftermarket parts, ran 12.50s at 109 mph, and drove the car daily—until a street sweeper took out the driver-side quarter-panel. Jim restored it in 1974 and ultimately sold it to current caretaker Vic Edelbrock. Jim told me it was the most perfect 1967 Camaro ever built. ‘Blueprinted engine?’ I asked. ‘No, they blueprinted the entire car!’ Seedon if you can reduce this to a two-line caption, Wallace. Camaro cheers, Rick V.”

Special Delivery

5/16

Remember Mitchell glasspacks? Mitchell’s Muffler Shop created a delivery truck by extending a T-roadster body for reasonable leg room, cutting a pickup bed down to muffler size, then mounting it to 2x4s above the T’s rails.

6/16

Funny Bones

7/16

Don Prudhomme and George Barris, two intense guys not exactly known for cracking up, evidently enjoyed their reunion within the reunion. Both legends signed autographs well into the cold evening, as did Vic Edelbrock Jr. (right).

Snow Job

8/16

On one of the weirdest HRM covers ever (Dec. 1964), the blonde aims a snowball at the head of Steve LaBonge, who’s too entranced with his 340hp 327 to notice, while the brunette seems to be thinking, “What a lame setup!” Steve’s owned the Chevy-powered tub since 1956, when he was in the ninth grade. Now we know where Eric Rickman found such a snowy SoCal background: Crestline, in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Record Ride

9/16

In late 1966, Autolite’s Danny Eames slipped a dyno-weary Ford DOHC Indy-car mule motor to Art Chrisman, Chick Hiroshima, and Ak Miller for a run at two FIA records. At Bonneville, Mario Andretti bumped the international 5-kilo and standing-5-mile D/Production Sedan records to 136.645 and 150.134 mph, respectively. He later clocked a piston-burning 175.873 that ended an effort documented in the Feb. ’67 HRM. Not bad for 225 normally aspirated inches, but Mario wouldn’t have stood a chance in 1,320 feet against Charley Garrett’s ’39 Studebaker B/Gasser, lovingly restored by his number-one fan, Randy Davis (whose collection of photos shot by Garrett’s team has been sampled repeatedly in Scrapbook). Randy and wife Yvonne hauled The Boss from Pennsylvania just for HRM’s Homecoming.

Unmolested

“Those tires came off the car that won the 1951 Indy 500 with Lee Wallard,” insists Tom McIntyre, whose 2010 restoration for Pebble Beach retained every part of the Hemi-powered Williams Bros. roadster, except gaskets. Raced only in 1954, the car broke the SCTA record targeted by the brothers and wasn’t seen again. “The tires are still inflated with 1954 air,” Tom adds, “and it smells like it!”

10/16

11th Hour

Why do these folks look so tired? Because it’s late on move-in night, after months of work, and several feature cars are yet to be located. HRM Editor David Freiburger (foreground) charged Executive Editor Julia Cyr and company archivist Thomas Voehringer (not pictured) with reproducing covers and/or inside pages depicting every HRM feature vehicle entered. These cool display boards were icing on the cake of an historic event. Ex-editor Rob Kinnan (left) adds ballast to their golf cart.

11/16

Thunderwagon

12/16

Look what we found in the parking lot. Could it be the love child of a fullsize Thunderbird and an Olds Vista Cruiser?

Early Injection

Edsel got its 15 minutes of hot-rod fame with the June ’59 issue. We couldn’t find anyone to ask whether it’s the gennie 1958 V8, but that intake looks just like the fuel injection developed at Propulsion Development Laboratories by hot-rodder Ed Johnson, a real rocket scientist. A straight swap for the stock carburetor and manifold spiked output from 202 to 260 hp.

13/16

Medleymobile

14/16

First impression is that not much progress seems has been made since Tom Medley’s Model A appeared in Nov. ’55. Lucky owner Karl Ivarsson reports that the flathead runs strong.

Alumni

15/16

Former HRM staffers celebrating a reunion of their own included Bob D’Olivo (left), longtime Petersen Publishing Co. photographic director, and ex-editor Jeff Smith, currently back where he started at Car Craft. Both signed autographs for adoring fans. Bob might be the only one who still fits into his old HOT ROD apparel.

Wonder Woman

George Barris pointed out that model Emily Sherer also happens to be a hands-on hot rodder and fabricator. Looking on is George’s grandson and main man, Jared, also 23 years young.